Q: If I put all of my birthday and anniversary dates into Windows 8’s Calendar app, will they automatically reappear a year later?

Or will have to have to remember to enter them all again every year?

A: Windows 8’s Calendar app works well for keeping track of birthdays, anniversaries, and other events.

But there’s a trick: When you enter a birthday or anniversary, you must tell the Calendar app that they’re recurring events. Otherwise the calendar promptly forgets the event next year.

To make sure your birthdays and anniversary entries automatically repeat every year, follow these steps when entering the dates into Windows 8’s Calendar app:

1. Open the Calendar app from Windows 8’s Start screen.
2. When the Calendar app appears, open the date for the birthday, anniversary, or other recurring appointment.
3. Click or tap the words Show More beneath the Where box. (That tells the Calendar app to display previously hidden options like recurring events.)
4. In the How Often box shown above, choose Every Year for birthdays and anniversaries. For other recurring appointments, choose Every Day, Every Weekday, Every Week, or Every Month.
5. Save the appointment by clicking or tapping the Save icon.

If you’ve already entered an event that you want to recur, you don’t have to reenter the event. Just re-open the appointment in the Calendar app, then choose how often it should repeat from the “How Often” drop-down menu. Click Save to save it as a recurring event.

You can make sure the Calendar app has entered your appointment correctly by paging ahead by in the Calendar by one year. You should see your recurring appointment automatically repeated on the correct day.